Spoil It on May 24th / Bodenstown June 10th .

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT ON MAY 24th - SPOIL IT !

This coming May 24th a 'general election' will take place in this 26-County State to elect and/or re-elect 165 time-serving place-seekers who will sit in a plush building in Kildare Street in Dublin city centre , pay themselves a basic salary of €2013 a week (...whilst , at the same time [in some cases], paying themselves up to €1572 a week 'expenses' on top of their salary!) and wash their manicured hands of responsibility for their continued and repeated failures to those voters that previously would have considered them 'worthy' enough to sit in that institution .

In this election we encourage those of our readers who are entitled to vote to SPOIL THAT VOTE ! Go to your polling station , claim your vote and deliberately and purposely SPOIL IT ! We ourselves , from this blog , will be writing - " Release All Political Prisoners!" on our voting ballot , but any message you decide to write on your ballot will have the same effect ie that vote will be deemed 'spoiled' .
A 'spoiled vote' is the only proper option open to those of us who wish to declare that we view the whole political system , as it now stands , as a corrupt , money-grabbing 'mé féin' and morally bankrupt system , run , operated , controlled and maintained by useless self-servers .

IF YOU HAVE A VOTE THIS MAY 2007 , USE IT TO MAKE A PROTEST. SPOIL IT !

ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION : Sunday , June 10 , 2007 , Sallins , Co. Kildare .

A bus for this Commemoration , which is organised each year by the Republican Movement , will leave from outside the old McBirneys/Virgin Megastore site on Dublin's Aston Quay at 12.45PM on the day , and return to Dublin at 5.45PM.

The fare is ten Euro per person .

For information on the death of Wolfe Tone , scroll through this piece (article starts on March 9 on that page) which was published on this blog two years ago .
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

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The men of 1922 / Derry besieged / Death and Mystery.

'THE MEN OF 1922.......'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' We wonder do Fianna Fail members ponder occasionally when they read their party newspapers where would Rory, Liam, Dick and Joe have stood today had Free State English guns not robbed them of life on that bleak morning 35 years ago ? Would they stand with the men who stand for Irish freedom and who are locked in the jails of Ireland and England , or would they stand with the men who have used their power to put Irish Republicans behind bars ?

" Freedom , Independence - he had striven for these and less than these he would not take...." , the 'Sunday Press' newspaper writer so described Rory O' Connor ; 'Less than freedom he would not take ...' " He was one of the people and it was Ireland , the people , for him . He was a social insurgent as well as a national one . In his cell at night he pondered deeply on a system which would take from the rich and give to the poor ... " , the 'Sunday Press' so described Liam Mellowes . Would Mellowes then accept today the social evils of unemployment , emigration and poor living standards ?

" Somehow the North was in him. Joe McKelvey had commanded a brigade where all around were foes , and he had that astuteness of the man who works in constant danger , the astuteness and a courage which he does not know himself to possess ..." , the newspaper wrote of Joe McKelvey . Would he stand today for co-operation with the British authorities in Occupied Ireland? And Dick Barrett who was "...to write one strange line showing that he had thought much and was great : ' Death ' , he wrote ,' is only terrible from a distance' . What of Dick Barrett.......? '
(MORE LATER).



DERRY : CITY BESIEGED WITHIN THE SIEGE .

Derry , once the cockpit of the Northern Irish conflict , has become quarantined in apathy , grimness and deprivation , writes Seamus Deane , the Derry-born poet and writer . In a return look at his native city he finds that its demoralisation has disturbing implications .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine, 1983.

It is more than twenty years since I lived in Derry and , although I have visited it regularly in that interval , I have become an outsider and can lay no claim to any special knowledge of the way it is now . My affection for the town remains unimpaired , but it is founded on memories which are constantly being disturbed by its present image . There is no need to rehearse what the place has been through in the last fifteen years - despite heroic efforts on the part of various organisations , the effects have been devastating .

Town-planning has been responsible for a great deal of this , especially in the Bogside, where the open spaces of earlier years have been replaced by bleak apartment blocks and where , as in Belfast , the shape of the neighbourhoods has been changed to accommodate the motor car . New housing estates have sprung up in Shantallow and the Waterside. The Creggan, the oldest of the town's housing estates , built initially both to rehouse people and to preserve the gerrymander system, is , in part , a ruin . Vandalism is responsible for that , but the conditions which allow it to grow and become rampant remain distressingly familiar .

Unemployment is one of them , disaffection with the 'State' and its 'security forces' - which have an appalling record of unpunished crime in the city - is another . The pressure of political and social circumstances has been so unrelenting for so long a time that many people seem to be borned down by it . There is certainly strong support for the IRA and for Sinn Fein in the districts which have suffered most . This is , in itself , sufficient commentary on the policies of successive British governments.......
(MORE LATER).


DEATH AND MYSTERY .......
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

Even before the inquest into the death of John O' Shea was held , coroner Helen Lucey wrote to solicitor Michael Finucane saying : " The inquest would be to establish identity and to establish how , when and where the deceased met his death . The question of blame or exoneration will not arise . "

After leaving the Garda Station it was thought that John O' Shea took a taxi to Castlemaine to his local pub . However , this magazine has spoken to a number of people who say they met John O' Shea at a pub in Tralee shortly after he left the garda station . Local man Jerome Daly (35) said he met O' Shea in Richie Houlihan's pub at around 10pm : " He pulled up his shirt and said 'Look what them fuckers did to me...' There were red marks on his side , up near his rib cage , " said Jerome Daly .

Daly , who says he knew John O' Shea through (P) Sinn Fein , was never interviewed by gardai and says he never thought of going to them - " My understanding was that he hit his head and that that was how he died . It's different now . No one is sure anymore . " According to Jerome Daly , John O' Shea "...didn't stay long in the pub . At most he had a short......."
(MORE LATER).

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Rock the 'establishment' on May 24 : SPOIL YOUR VOTE !

Make your vote count on May 24th - SPOIL IT !
This coming May 24th a 'general election' will take place in this 26-County State to elect and/or re-elect 165 time-serving place-seekers who will sit in a plush building in Kildare Street in Dublin city centre , pay themselves a basic salary of €2013 a week (...whilst , at the same time [in some cases], paying themselves up to €1572 a week 'expenses' on top of their salary!) and wash their manicured hands of responsibility for their continued and repeated failures to those voters that previously would have considered them 'worthy' enough to sit in that institution .

In this election we encourage those of our readers who are entitled to vote to SPOIL THAT VOTE ! Go to your polling station , claim your vote and deliberately and purposely SPOIL IT ! We ourselves , from this blog , will be writing - " Release All Political Prisoners!" on our voting ballot , but any message you decide to write on your ballot will have the same effect ie that vote will be deemed 'spoiled' .
A 'spoiled vote' is the only proper option open to those of us who wish to declare that we view the whole political system , as it now stands , as a corrupt , money-grabbing 'mé féin' and morally bankrupt system , run , operated , controlled and maintained by useless self-servers .

IF YOU HAVE A VOTE THIS MAY 2007 , USE IT TO MAKE A PROTEST. SPOIL IT !


ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION :
Sunday , June 10 , 2007 , Sallins , Co. Kildare .

A bus for this Commemoration , which is organised each year by the Republican Movement , will leave from outside the old McBirneys/Virgin Megastore site on Dublin's Aston Quay at 12.45PM on the day , and return to Dublin at 5.45PM.

The fare is ten Euro per person .

For information on the death of Wolfe Tone , scroll through this piece (article starts on March 9 on that page) which was published on this blog two years ago.
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

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Wolfe Tone Commemoration .

ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION :
Sunday , June 10 , 2007 , Sallins , Co. Kildare .

A bus for this Commemoration , which is organised each year by the Republican Movement , will leave from outside the old McBirneys/Virgin Megastore site on Dublin's Aston Quay at 12.45PM on the day , and return to Dublin at 5.45PM.

The fare is ten Euro per person .

For information on the death of Wolfe Tone , scroll through this piece (article starts on March 9 on that page) which was published on this blog two years ago.
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .



MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT - SPOIL IT !

This coming May 24th a 'general election' will take place in this 26-County State to elect and/or re-elect 165 time-serving place-seekers who will sit in a plush building in Kildare Street in Dublin city centre , pay themselves a basic salary of €2013 a week (...whilst , at the same time [in some cases], paying themselves up to €1572 a week 'expenses' on top of their salary!) and wash their manicured hands of responsibility for their continued and repeated failures to those voters that previously would have considered them 'worthy' enough to sit in that institution .

In this election we encourage those of our readers who are entitled to vote to SPOIL THAT VOTE ! Go to your polling station , claim your vote and deliberately and purposely SPOIL IT ! We ourselves , from this blog , will be writing - " Release All Political Prisoners!" on our voting ballot , but any message you decide to write on your ballot will have the same effect ie that vote will be deemed 'spoiled' .
A 'spoiled vote' is the only proper option open to those of us who wish to declare that we view the whole political system , as it now stands , as a corrupt , money-grabbing 'mé féin' and morally bankrupt system , run , operated , controlled and maintained by useless self-servers .

IF YOU HAVE A VOTE THIS MAY 2007 , USE IT TO MAKE A PROTEST. SPOIL IT !

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'THE MEN OF 1922...'

'THE MEN OF 1922'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' " Rory and Liam and Dick and Joe
Star of the morning , Mary come .
Red is their hearts' blood ,
Their souls like snow ,
Mary Immaculate guide them home ."

- Padraíg de Brun.

Thirty-five years ago Rory and Liam , Dick and Joe were killed . They died for the Irish people . For freedom . For the Republic of Pearse and Connolly. The 'Sunday Press' newspaper remembered them on December 8 (1958) , while 125 Irish Republicans exercised in the Curragh Concentration Camp, another half dozen moved around the cells of the same Mountjoy Prison where those four men met their deaths , 250 Irish Republicans were guarded with guns in the Crumlin Road Prison in Belfast and seven others exercised in English jails with the convicts of England .

Rory O' Connor , Liam Mellowes , Dick Barrett and Joe McKelvey , the 'Sunday Press' remembered you . You were also remembered by the Irish Republicans of our day in the prisons of Ireland and England . The top men of Fianna Fail attended Mass at Trinity Church , Dublin Castle, in memory of the four martyrs , on December 8th . They were photographed later and next day the 'Irish Press' newspaper told us all about it . But no photographer travelled to the Curragh , or Mountjoy , or Crumlin Road , Wakefield or Wormwood Scrubs. If he had he would not have been admitted or , indeed , might have stood a good chance of being locked up.......'
(MORE LATER).



THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY.......
Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .

The Labour Party's former Mayor of Dublin , Dermot Lacey, seriously embarrassed his party in January this year (2003) by voting against his party to pass an increase in the council charges so as not to spoil his stint in the Mansion House. Although the Labour Party condemns the charges , it is recommending people to 'obey the law' and pay up ! The Party is moving to the political right under Pat Rabbitte who has sidled up to the bloodsports enthusiasts at the National Association of Regional Games Councils (NARGC) (sic - that Association is a 26-county body only) and endorsed the privatisation of services earlier in 2003 - so the Labour Party won't be doing anything radical on the bins issue .

While this makes the Labour Party vulnerable to both (P) Sinn Fein ( whose members in Leinster House from beyond the Pale , it emerged , have paid their bin charges!) and the Socialist Party in working-class areas , there is little (P)SF support in Swords and it is Clare Daly who will benefit and who could take the Labour seat off Sean Ryan. In 2002 , she received more of (P) Sinn Fein's candidate , Mick Davis's, transfers than anyone else ; however , republicans consider the 400-member Socialist Party - which was inspired by and emerged in the same way as the British Socialist Party - to be virtually unionist on the issue of the North , classing British squaddies as "workers in uniform" ! ('1169...' Comment - those that were then critical of the Socialist Party in relation to the North-Eastern issue are now on that same road themselves , dismissing those of us whom still hold true to Republican ideals as 'micro/unrepresentative/dissident' groups . The 'squaddies are just workers'-remarks will surely follow in time...)

The Socialist Party has a virtual monopoly on the anti double-bin tax issue in Fingal , where it is most serious . For Fingal County Council to put one Socialist Party member in jail could be excused as unlucky , but to put the scariest woman in north Dublin behind bars was just plain foolish . Clare Daly will be back to haunt them .
[END of 'THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY'] .
(Next - 'DERRY : CITY BESIEGED WITHIN THE SIEGE' , from 1983)


DEATH AND MYSTERY .......
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

According to the Gardai , John O' Shea was kept in a cell in Tralee Garda Station until 9.40pm , when they woke him up . He made the bed , put on his boots and returned with them to the dayroom to collect his belongings . As he left the station another garda waited outside ; he was then questioned on the steps of the station in relation to the car accident but refused to sign garda notes . All the gardai present testified that he was sober and was in "...good form.." when he left them .

John O'Shea's arrest , detention and subsequent questioning were all unlawful , according to the family's solicitor , Michael Finucane: " There is no law that says you can't be under the influence of alcohol and be a passenger in a car . They invited him out of the car and created a situation where he was drunk in a public place and arrested him for it . It's a contrived offence , " says Finucane , the son of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

" They then detained him for almost three hours , when there are no provisions in the Act for detaining him without charge for longer than it is nesessary to take his details . When he walked out the front door there were two gardai waiting for him to question him about the car accident . Why didn't they question him in the Garda station ? " Michael Finucane wanted answers about the manner of John O' Shea's arrest but the coroner in Kerry was having none of it , and stated as much in a letter.......
(MORE LATER).

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SEND A MESSAGE ON MAY 24 : SPOIL YOUR VOTE !

Don't Just 'rock the vote' : ROCK THE ESTABLISHMENT !

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT - SPOIL IT !

This coming May 24th a 'general election' will take place in this 26-County State to elect and/or re-elect 165 time-serving place-seekers who will sit in a plush building in Kildare Street in Dublin city centre , pay themselves a basic salary of €2013 a week (...whilst , at the same time [in some cases], paying themselves up to €1572 a week 'expenses'on top of their salary!) and wash their manicured hands of responsibility for their continued and repeated failures to those voters that previously would have considered them 'worthy' enough to sit in that institution .

In this election we encourage those of our readers who are entitled to vote to SPOIL THAT VOTE ! Go to your polling station , claim your vote and deliberately and purposely SPOIL IT ! We ourselves , from this blog , will be writing - " Release All Political Prisoners!" on our voting ballot , but any message you decide to write on your ballot will have the same effect ie that vote will be deemed 'spoiled' .
A 'spoiled vote' is the only proper option open to those of us who wish to declare that we view the whole political system , as it now stands , as a corrupt , money-grabbing 'mé féin' and morally bankrupt system , run , operated , controlled and maintained by useless self-servers .

IF YOU HAVE A VOTE THIS MAY 2007 , USE IT TO MAKE A PROTEST. SPOIL IT !

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United Irishman 1958 / Young Bloods / Death And Mystery .

'INSIDE THE CURRAGH CONCENTRATION CAMP.......'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' The result is that there are many here who have had treatment prescribed for them months ago and for whom nothing has been done...

A similar situation exists about clothing . We have been told that if the doctor recommended clothing it would be supplied ; the doctor here has done so and only a few items have come . It is one or two months ago that he put down a recommendation for a pair of slacks for me and although I have beaten a track up to the medical hut - but no dice so far .

However , these are all the things which we have experienced for years and years . Eventually we'll wear them down . I must say that the people are doing their best to make things easy but even at its best a prison-camp is not too pleasant a place .

Internee ,
The Curragh Concentration Camp,
The Curragh Military Camp,
Co. Kildare . '
(Next - from the same source : 'THE MEN OF 1922')


THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY.......
Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .

Apart from the bins issue , the airport profile has made Clare Daly the face of anti-Brennan, anti-Aer Rianta-break-up sentiment in the Dublin North constituency where local reps such as Fianna Fail Leinster House members GV Wright and Jim Glennon, have been (unsurprisingly) silent - until last weekend , when Jim Glennon demanded that Daly's party colleague , Joe Higgins, resign his Leinster House seat !

Clare Daly has long overtaken Green Party leader Trevor Sargent and Labour's Sean Ryan on airport issues which , like the bin charges, she has caught onto like a pit bull and refuses to let go . In the 2002 general election, Clare Daly put the frighteners on Fianna Fail, and came close behind GV Wright with her 5,501 first preferences - Wright scored 5,658 to come fourth .

In early 2003 , Sean Ryan indicated his intention not to run again if the administration runs its full term as he wants to retire and , unless a credible Labour Party candidate drops out of the sky , Daly will hoover up many traditional Labour votes as well as her own support . In the meantime , Sean Ryan's council seat has been co-opted to psychiatric nurse , Gerry McGuire, who will likely run but nobody will be taking any votes off Daly now that the council has turned her into Joan of Arc.......
(MORE LATER).



DEATH AND MYSTERY .......
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

Michael O' Shea rang his brother , John , again , from outside the Garda Barracks in Tralee : John colourfully complained that the gardai were keeping him in . But his conversation was cut short . " I heard shuffling and banging , " Michael O' Shea told the inquest , "...it sounded to me like the guards were carrying him to a cell . "

Inside the Barracks , Michael met two gardai : " They looked shaky and a bit nervous . I asked one of the guards if John O' Shea was here , that I was there to collect him . The guards told me that he wouldn't be going anywhere for a while , that they were investigating a traffic accident . " At the inquest the gardai said they had no knowledge of John O' Shea receiving a phonecall : they said they had taken his mobile phone once he entered the Barracks . But an 'Eircell' phone bill , seen by this magazine , shows that two calls were made to his number at 7.23pm and 7.30pm . The second call lasted for over two minutes .

The gardai said at the inquest that they got a tip-off from an anonymous male caller at about 6.50pm saying that a car had crashed into a sign at Ballymullen and that the driver was drunk : when they got there they found John O' Shea sitting in the passenger's seat . They believed he was drunk and arrested him under the Public Order Act. They took him to Tralee Garda Station .......
(MORE LATER).

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Report and photographs on Hunger-Strike Rally , 5th May 2007 , Dublin .

The RSF-organised Memorial Rally for the 22 Irish Hunger-Strikers , which was held on Saturday 5th May 2007 in Dublin's O'Connell Street , was a great success and a reminder to all that the conditions which led to those men taking that action still exist - the continuing British military and political presence on this island .

Those attending the two-hour Memorial Rally witnessed at least fifty members and supporters of the Republican Movement commemorating in a dignified manner the sacrifice made by the 22 Hunger-Strikers : over that two-hour period in Dublin's O'Connell Street , at least fifty other people joined in the Commemoration and assisted in handing out leaflets , selling the 'Saoirse' newspaper and leaving their contact details with the organisers .
Republican Sinn Fein are to be congratulated for organising this event - photographs from same are published below :
















Once again , thanks to Republican Sinn Fein for putting this event together .

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United Irishman 1958 /Young Bloods /Death And Mystery.

'INSIDE THE CURRAGH CONCENTRATION CAMP'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' The following is part of a letter to his family from a Republican in the Curragh Concentration Camp :

You will have seen in the debate in Leinster House that we would be appearing to have no grounds at all for complaint and that the standard of cleanliness is very high . Well , first of all , if the standard of cleanliness is high it would be well for them to remember that we clean and keep the Camp in order and it is due mainly to the high standard of discipline and co-operation among our lads that the place is so clean .

As for being perfectly housed , anyone who has lived in huts with poor fires and bad turf will know all about that . For months past we have been looking for treatment for eyes and teeth and although the staff here have recommended treatment it has been stopped or delayed or stymied up the line somewhere .

The result is that there are many here who have had treatment prescribed for them months ago and for whom nothing has been done.......'
(MORE LATER).


THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY.......
Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .

Clare Daly first stood (unsuccessfully) for election to Leinster House in 1997 in Dublin North when she got 2,971 first preference votes - 7 per cent of the total vote . She also (unsuccessfully) contested the by-election (ie 'local council') in that constituency later in that same year . However , in 1999 she succeeded in getting onto Fingal County Council in the five-seat Swords area with 1,287 first preferences (14 per cent of the vote) . She came in second after Sean Ryan (Labour) and ahead of Anne Devitt(Fine Gael) and Michael Kennedy (Fianna Fail).

She had her council photocopying privileges withdrawn in 2002 by county manager , Willie Soffe, for "...undermining council policy.." by copying leaflets critical of the council itself , and has regular clashes with other councillors - especially Fine Gael's Anne Devitt - on planning issues , accusing them of bowing to the agendas of privatisation and property developers . She is said to remain 'aloof' from the other councillors ("...shame-faced hypocrites.." , she calls them on the double bin-tax issue) at meetings and not to socialise with them , probably because they are the enemy . However , she is feared in the debating chamber because of her debating skills and because her regular political 'rants' are often too much for some to take .

Her skill has been to latch onto populist local issues and break them down in terms of us versus them - the workers vs the bosses - and feed on that same arms-folded , 'sure they're all on the take' indignation that surrounds the tribunals.......
(MORE LATER).


DEATH AND MYSTERY .......
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

John O' Shea had just turned 40 at the time of his death . He was a small farmer , with a holding of 18 acres and 14 cows . He was a member of (Provisional) Sinn Fein . There was a republican colour party at his funeral . He had no convictions and was never in any real trouble with the law , according to his family . " He was very quiet and shy , but when he had a few pints in him he had courage all right . He was a binge drinker . He could go on the batter for a few days and be off it again for a few weeks , " says his brother , Michael .

He died during the October bank holiday weekend in October 2001 . He had left his home in Castlemaine , County Kerry, around lunchtime that Monday with a neighbour , John Thorney O' Shea . The duo ended up drinking in Tralee , 17 miles away . At around 7pm , John rang his sister-in-law , Chris , saying that his car had been crashed and asking if she would come and pick him up . The car had hit a 'Yield' sign , but O'Shea told her someone else was driving it at the time . She later gave the man's name to the gardai but the man in question has told this magazine that he was never interviewed by them . It is not certain if O'Shea was actually in the car when it crashed .

O'Shea arranged to meet his sister-in-law outside a pub near Tralee , but when Chris and her husband , Michael (John's brother) , arrived there was no sign of John . They rang him on his mobile phone to be told that he had been arrested.......
(MORE LATER).

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Spoil it on May 24th / United Irishman 1958 / Young Bloods / Death And Mystery / 5th May Memorial Rally .

Don't Just 'rock the vote' : 'ROCK THE ESTABLISHMENT' !

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT - SPOIL IT !

This coming May 24th a 'general election' will take place in this 26-County State to elect and/or re-elect 165 time-serving place-seekers who will sit in a plush building in Kildare Street in Dublin city centre , pay themselves a basic salary of €2013 a week (...whilst , at the same time [in some cases], paying themselves up to €1572 a week 'expenses' on top of their salary!) and wash their manicured hands of responsibility for their continued and repeated failures to those voters that previously would have considered them 'worthy' enough to sit in that institution .

In this election we encourage those of our readers who are entitled to vote to SPOIL THAT VOTE ! Go to your polling station , claim your vote and deliberately and purposely SPOIL IT ! We ourselves , from this blog , will be writing - " Release All Political Prisoners!" on our voting ballot , but any message you decide to write on your ballot will have the same effect ie that vote will be deemed 'spoiled' .
A 'spoiled vote' is the only proper option open to those of us who wish to declare that we view the whole political system , as it now stands , as a corrupt , money-grabbing 'mé féin' and morally bankrupt system , run , operated , controlled and maintained by useless self-servers .

IF YOU HAVE A VOTE THIS MAY 2007 , USE IT TO MAKE A PROTEST. SPOIL IT !


'INTIMIDATION BY FORCE OF ARMS.......'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' In the court , which was presided over by two Resident Magistrates , a number of young people were fined for having copies of 'The United Irishman' newspaper in their possession ! The whole 'security' show was put on in an attempt to intimidate the people and show them the reserves at the disposal of the Occupation authorities .

Susan Connolly , Aghanashammer , Roslea , and John Murray of Drummerinte, Roslea , were fined £5 each . Theresa Goodwin of Lakeview , Roslea , was fined £3 , and a similar charge against John Goodwin , Lakeview , was dismissed . One of the Resident Magistrates , Mr. T. Elliott , said that other persons found in possession of 'documents' such as 'The United Irishman' newspaper would not get off so lightly . He said that these penalties should be taken as a warning : people should not have 'The United Irishman' in their possession . The RUC District Inspector joined in the warning ' .

('1169...' Comment : British 'law and order' on public display - 'possession' of a newspaper deemed an 'illegal' act ! That attitude remains prevalent to this day , but the 'Resident Magistrates' and their type have learned not to express it publicly.)
(Next - from the same source : 'INSIDE THE CURRAGH CONCENTRATION CAMP')


THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY.......
Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .

As if it weren't enough that Clare Daly is associated with one big anti-privatisation issue of the day , she is also the champion of the Dublin Airport workers as part of the Dublin Airport Workers Network (DAWN) . She has worked in the catering division of Aer Lingus since the mid-nineties and has been 'causing trouble' on behalf of the workers all the while ! In December 2002 , she had to undertake in the (State) High Court not to trespass on or obstruct premises belonging to Cityjet at Dublin Airport during a dispute over union recognition , pay and conditions .

In April 2003 , she stated there would be industrial action throughout Aer Lingus if company boss , Willie Walsh, went ahead with a plan to jettison its 300 catering workers and she has accused Seamus Brennan of priming Aer Rianta for privatisation by splitting it into three , earlier this year . She has clashed with the SIPTU leadership too , and in 2001 she and Brendan Leech were suspended as branch trustees for refusing to sign blank cheques for cabin crew expenses arising from union activity . Clare Daly claimed these were excessive as , despite making up only 10 per cent of the membership , cabin crew were accounting for 80 per cent of expenses - that's a lot of Ballygowan! She and Brendan Leech were later reinstated after a (State) High Court challenge .......
(MORE LATER).



DEATH AND MYSTERY .
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

The motion to Kerry County Council sat uncomfortably between calls for the retention of existing bin lorries and resurfacing graveyards . It sought backing for a public inquiry into the death of Castlemaine republican John O' Shea, who was found dead at his home in October 2001 , just hours after being released from Garda custody .

The motion also called for new legislation governing the conduct of inquests which would be compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights: the motion was passed unanimously . For Michael O' Shea (43) , sitting in the public gallery of the county council chamber in Tralee , this at last offered some recognition that all was not right with the Garda investigation into the death of his younger brother . Eighteen months after John was found in a pool of blood outside his home , Michael still isn't sure how or why he died . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered .

The State pathologist , Dr. John Harbison, had originally said John O' Shea died from hypothermia but later withdrew his findings . He had based his verdict on information given to him by gardai that O' Shea had been left semi-naked in the cold for hours . The gardai denied they ever said this . John O' Shea had a slightly enlarged heart , the pathologist said , and offered 'heart failure' as a possible cause of death together with acute alcohol intoxication . He couldn't explain why John O' Shea had so many marks on his body , face and neck . The jury weren't convinced by the explanation and returned an open verdict.......
(MORE LATER).



Between the years 1917 and 1981 , 22 Irish men died on hunger strike in their fight for Irish Freedom . That same fight continues today , as six Irish counties remain under the jurisdictional control of Westminster , which enforces that control with military occupation . The annual Hunger-Strike Commemoration -organised by the Republican Movement - will be held this year on Saturday , 5 May , when a picket and rally will be held on the traffic isle facing the GPO in Dublin's O'Connell Street , beginning at 1(one) P.M.
ALL WELCOME!

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Commemorating the 22 Irish Hunger-Strikers.....

HUNGER STRIKE MEMORIAL RALLY , DUBLIN , SATURDAY MAY 5th , 2007 .

Between the years 1917 and 1981 , 22 Irish men died on hunger strike in their fight for Irish Freedom . That same fight continues today , as six Irish counties remain under the jurisdictional control of Westminster , which enforces that control with military occupation . The annual Hunger-Strike Commemoration -organised by the Republican Movement - will be held this year on Saturday , 5 May , when a picket and rally will be held on the traffic isle facing the GPO in Dublin's O'Connell Street , beginning at 1(one) P.M.
ALL WELCOME!


MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT - SPOIL IT !

This coming May 24th a 'general election' will take place in this 26-County State to elect and/or re-elect 165 time-serving place-seekers who will sit in a plush building in Kildare Street in Dublin city centre , pay themselves a basic salary of €2013 a week (...whilst , at the same time [in some cases], paying themselves up to €1572 a week 'expenses' on top of their salary!) and wash their manicured hands of responsibility for their continued and repeated failures to those voters that previously would have considered them 'worthy' enough to sit in that institution .

In this election we encourage those of our readers who are entitled to vote to SPOIL THAT VOTE ! Go to your polling station , claim your vote and deliberately and purposely SPOIL IT ! We ourselves , from this blog , will be writing - " Release All Political Prisoners!" on our voting ballot , but any message you decide to write on your ballot will have the same effect ie that vote will be deemed 'spoiled' .
A 'spoiled vote' is the only proper option open to those of us who wish to declare that we view the whole political system , as it now stands , as a corrupt , money-grabbing 'mé féin' and morally bankrupt system , run , operated , controlled and maintained by useless self-servers .

IF YOU HAVE A VOTE THIS MAY 2007 , USE IT TO MAKE A PROTEST. SPOIL IT !

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British Intimidation in Ireland.....

'INTIMIDATION BY FORCE OF ARMS'.......
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' Before the court were two girls and two men charged with 'possession' of the 'United Irishman' newspaper ! This is the reason for the 'security precautions' , and why Roslea RUC Barracks has been turned into a veritable fortress .

For some time past this large , modern building , which is equipped with radio and other modern aids to security , has been fortified by having a barrier of sandbags erected in front of the doors and windows , which are also equipped with steel shutters inside . Now several machine gun nests have been constructed of sandbags in the grounds and a wall of sandbags is in the course of erection right round the building so as to allow movement around the barracks even under fire .

RUC dogs also patrol the vicinity and barbed wire entanglements are also in position . Hedges in front of the building have been cut low , apparently to allow for a large field of fire . '

Iron Heel On Roslea :
' British air and ground troops carried out strict security precautions during the holding of a court at Roslea , County Fermanagh , on December 6 , 1957 . A low-flying spotter plane circled the town during the court sitting while RUC men , armed with sten-guns , guarded the court-house outside . Strong patrols were on guard at all approaches to Roslea and all persons entering the town were stopped and questioned....... '
(MORE LATER).



THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY.......
Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .

A letter dated February 18 , 2003 , from Fingal County Council to John Glennon of SIPTU, which represents the binmen , quoted Senior Council Executive Officer Joe O' Reilly , as saying - " It is felt that private refuse collection contractors are better equipped to deliver the service . I should be obliged therefore if you could meet .....with a view to discussing the orderly wind-down of the refuse collection service ."

However , last week the Council said that that letter was old hat and that other arrangements have since been reached with the binmen . 'Yeah , right...' , say the anti-bin tax campaigners.

Clare Daly studied accounting and finance in NIHE (now DCU) and joined the Labour Party in 1986 , around the time of the divorce referendum. She was on the 'National(sic) Youth Executive' and the 'Administrative Council' of that Party when in 1989 she , Joe Higgins and ten other members were booted out by Ruairi Quinn and other party bigwigs for being too militant .

Militant Labour then became The Socialist Party. Clare Daly's husband , Michael Murphy, was also a Militant Labour Party member and , presumably , her three-year-old daughter won't be voting Fianna Fail when she grows up.......!
(MORE LATER).



GLOSSARY OF THE LEFT IN IRELAND : FROM 1960 TO 1983.......
These notes attempt to record the left-wing organisations which have existed in Ireland since 1960 . No attempt has been made to record purely local organisations outside Dublin and Belfast , or microscopic groups which never reached double figures . The larger organisations have been presented in more detail .
From 'GRALTON' magazine, 1983.
By John Goodwillie.
(NOTE : Links in the following article are as accurate as possible - not all the groups mentioned left a discernible 'footprint' .)

YOUNG SOCIALIST ALLIANCE: Formed in 1968 by people involved with the Young Socialist group , a body oriented to the Northern Ireland Labour Party, (sic) and others of varying orientation . The 'Alliance' acted as a core within People's Democracy before lapsing in 1969 .

YOUNG SOCIALISTS: Various branches of this group were active in Dublin and Belfast and elsewhere in 1967 and succeeding years , with the involvement of members of the Irish Workers Group and the League For A Workers Republic. In Belfast they lapsed after the formation of the Young Socialist Alliance; the groups in the South formed a structure in 1970 , and after 1972 were simply the youth movement of the League For A Workers Republic.

[END of 'GLOSSARY OF THE LEFT IN IRELAND']
(Next-'DEATH AND MYSTERY' : from 2003)

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Don't Just 'rock the vote' : Rock The Establishment !

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT - SPOIL IT !

This coming May 24th a 'general election' will take place in this 26-County State to elect and/or re-elect 165 time-serving place-seekers who will sit in a plush building in Kildare Street in Dublin city centre , pay themselves a basic salary of €2013 a week (...whilst , at the same time [in some cases], paying themselves up to €1572 a week 'expenses' on top of their salary!) and wash their manicured hands of responsibility for their continued and repeated failures to those voters that previously would have considered them 'worthy' enough to sit in that institution .

In this election we encourage those of our readers who are entitled to vote to SPOIL THAT VOTE ! Go to your polling station , claim your vote and deliberately and purposely SPOIL IT ! We ourselves , from this blog , will be writing - " Release All Political Prisoners!" on our voting ballot , but any message you decide to write on your ballot will have the same effect ie that vote will be deemed 'spoiled' .
A 'spoiled vote' is the only proper option open to those of us who wish to declare that we view the whole political system , as it now stands , as a corrupt , money-grabbing 'mé féin' and morally bankrupt system , run , operated , controlled and maintained by useless self-servers .

IF YOU HAVE A VOTE THIS MAY 2007 , USE IT TO MAKE A PROTEST. SPOIL IT !


HUNGER STRIKE MEMORIAL RALLY , DUBLIN , SATURDAY MAY 5th , 2007 .


Between the years 1917 and 1981 , 22 Irish men died on hunger strike in their fight for Irish Freedom . That same fight continues today , as six Irish counties remain under the jurisdictional control of Westminster , which enforces that control with military occupation . The annual Hunger-Strike Commemoration -organised by the Republican Movement - will be held this year on Saturday , 5 May , when a picket and rally will be held on the traffic isle facing the GPO in Dublin's O'Connell Street , beginning at 1(one) P.M.
ALL WELCOME!

UPDATE : A copy of the above 'Spoil It' post has been removed by a Moderator from the 'Political Forum' of the 'Dublin.ie' site . We were given the following reason -
" Sharon, you may be wondering why your threads on the above topic disappeared. As a government run site, we can't condone the promotion of spoiling votes If you wish to discuss the merits of voting, by all means do so, but please do not encourage other users to spoil votes as you have done before. "

A discussion re that censorship is on-going as I write but , from past experience , we know their position will not change . We posted same twice on that site and it was removed by the same Moderator on both occasions . However , we have survived worst in the past.......

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British Intimidation.......

'INTIMIDATION BY FORCE OF ARMS'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' An extraordinary attempt is now being made to intimidate the nationalist people of Occupied Ireland by a show of force . What happened in Roslea , County Fermanagh , during the past month is only a case in point .

When a 'Crimes Court' held its first sitting in Roslea , aircraft assisted the ground forces in carrying out what Stormont calls "security precautions" , which included air-ground radio communications and , after the court sitting ended , the aircraft continued the low-flying survey .

On the ground , strong patrols of RUC covered the district . At various points in the village the RUC , armed with sub-machine guns , took up positions in the entries and alcoves , while at the rear of the small courthouse , patrols with Sten-guns covered the yards and gardens . There were further strong patrols at road-crossings and all persons not personally known to the RUC men were stopped and closely questioned . A considerable number of RUC and B-Specials were held in reserve at the local RUC Barracks : there are now 10 RUC Commandos in Roslea . The bulk of the RUC was made up of the new RUC Commando force drafted into the area to assist in the "security precautions......." '
(MORE LATER).


THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY.......
Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .

Clare Daly is scarily committed to her politics - even for a Trot - and , despite having a three-year-old daughter and a full-time job , has barely been off the airwaves in the week before she went inside , flustering even every Dub's 'best friend' , Joe Duffy. She has been hammering home her belief that the bin charges are just a first step to privatising the bin service in Dublin - one over which there will be no price control and whixch will put binmen's jobs and conditions at risk .

Dublin is 'the Alamo' for the privatisation of all public services , she stated , and most local authorities that have introduced bin charges for householders have subsequently privatised the service . This is because when those in Leinster House tried to bring in water charges they did so first in Dublin , and there they fell - in no small part due to Clare Daly . This time around they have taken the country first , with Dublin the last to 'fall' . In typical Socialist Party fashion , the bin campaign has taken it upon itself to stand up even for those who want to pay the charges , claiming they have been bullied * into paying . ( * '1169..' Comment : ...for our part , we can confirm that the local authority in this area has posted out 'red letters' to non-payers , 'advising' them that court action may follow unless they pay the double tax .)

Last week (Provisional) Sinn Fein activist Daithí Doolan (seen here on Poppa Gerry's knee) - who is involved in the anti-bin tax campaign in the City Council area ('1169...' Comment : as are some of his party colleagues!) - produced a letter dated February 18th , 2003 , from Fingal County Council to John Glennon of SIPTU, in which privatisation of the bin service is mentioned.......
(MORE LATER).



GLOSSARY OF THE LEFT IN IRELAND : FROM 1960 TO 1983.......
These notes attempt to record the left-wing organisations which have existed in Ireland since 1960 . No attempt has been made to record purely local organisations outside Dublin and Belfast , or microscopic groups which never reached double figures . The larger organisations have been presented in more detail .
From 'GRALTON' magazine, 1983.
By John Goodwillie.
(NOTE : Links in the following article are as accurate as possible - not all the groups mentioned left a discernible 'footprint' .)

WORKERS PARTY: This group changed their name from Sinn Fein The Workers Party and from Republican Clubs-The Workers Party in 1982 . Was considered to be the major organisation to the political left of the Labour Party.

YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE: Formed in 1968 as the youth movement of the Communist Party Of Northern Ireland, this group merged into the Connolly Youth Movement in 1970 .

YOUNG LABOUR LEAGUE: A short-lived semi-official youth movement of the Labour Party in 1967 .
(MORE LATER).

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LIDL AND GEOGRAPHY.....

What planet are Lidl on....... ?



The Schwarz Lebensmittel-Sortimentsgrosshandlung family have a lot to answer for !

Log on to the Lidl website
and witness this legend for yourself -

'Select your Country
Rep. of Ireland
Northern Ireland'

"Country" ? An e-mail to their Head Office seeking clarification has already been dispatched - the reply , if any , will be posted here . Meanwhile , it would be better to refrain from purchasing road-maps or geography books etc from any of their stores as same would most likely only lead you further astray.......

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